Dia Feriado

So though it was a little hard being away from my family and having to work on Thanksgiving Day…I was not disappointed (like always). Shelly and I went to Amanda’s house to celebrate with about 40 of her Dominican “relatives.” The family was so warm and welcoming, and made us the “guests of honor.”

The food was wonderful and what topped it off was the surprise of two mariachi (kind of) guitarists. The whole family was singing and dancing and laughing, and in the midst of it all, I was again overwhelmed with how at home I am here, and with how sweet God is for surrounding me with so much love.


I then got to spend another long weekend at the beach…I think I’m setting a record here for how many weekends I can go in one semester! We spent tons of time relaxing on the beach, playing volleyball, eating good food and just sharing our lives together. Here’s a pic of us with Santa on a moto (feels a little weird seeing so many Christmas decorations when the weather is still beautiful). That’s Shelly, Laura and Katie.

So there’s a little update of what’s been going on here…time is flying and I can’t believe I’ll already be home in a few weeks for Christmas. I hope ya’ll are doing well, cuidense mucho!

Dia de Gracias

I'm teaching on this Thanksgiving day, here in the Dominican Republic, while many of you are watching parades, eating food, watching football, eating more food, spending time with family and friends, and yes, eating more food :). I DO have tomorrow off, which is such a blessing...and I'm excited to be eating some turkey later tonight at a Dominican family's home. With the turkey, though, will be some arroz, habichuelas, pastelon, y otras comidas dominicanas :). Oh, and I spent some time last night making pumpkin pie with a friend...thanks, Mom, for sending the ingredients!!! So, today, I'm excited to spend time with friends and my new "family" here, and to continue reflecting on what I'm thankful for.

Here's something to chew on while stuffing our warm bellies...

Happy Thanksgiving, friends and family...que comen mucho pavo, que disfruten su tiempo juntos, y que tomen vino para recordarme :). Nos vemos en diciembre!!!

La huelga

So, there was a strike...but we did have school and it was very normal here in Jarabacoa. In the capital, there was a little more going on, but here in a small town where everyone knows everyone, there weren't any people burning tires or being any more crazy in the streets than they would be on a normal day in the DR. Thanks for thinking of us!

Last weekend, I worked at Pico Escondido on work crew. The girls that I do a "Bible study" with every week and I washed lots of dishes, prepared lots of food, set lots of tables and cleaned up after lots of kids. I also got to run sound for club which was another fun way to bring back memories of my summer here 2 years ago. I loved being back up in the mountains at the beautiful camp where I first fell in love with this country. Here's a picture of the 50 kids that Santiago Young Life brought to camp...oh, and look - there's Steph on the left :)!

So after working all last weekend, it was good to have this weekend off. Shelly was housesitting for Chad and Krista (our directors), so I decided to make it a "get-away" for me, too. They have an amazing house in the mountains like 20 minutes from town. It was so quiet and relaxing for me. We had good food, good convos, watched a few good movies and read a lot. Here's a pic of the view.

Oh, and one of the "gynormous" tarantula that came out to play on Saturday night. Guacala :)!!!

Leonel

Our president, Leonel Fernandez, addressed the nation last night about the fiscal reform. Please pray for the DR as the people are possibly going on strike. If the strike starts, we will not be having school tomorrow due to the danger that it brings. Pray for our safety and for a strike NOT to occur. If you're interested in DR politics, www.dr1.com is a site in English.

Los monjes

Something that I look forward to every week is something that I haven't talked about yet on my blog. Every Wednesday, I go up to the Monastery to teach English to a group of Monks. It is always full of laughs and usually more Spanish than English, but they love it and are learning a little bit every week. This past Wednesday we celebrated Miguel Angel's birthday with party hats, chocolates, and games :). The Monastery is so beautiful and peaceful in the mountains, and just by being there with them, God's presence is so unavoidable. (L-R: me, Jose Joaquin, Miguel Angel, Federico, Jose Luis, Yonny, below: Lauro). Aren't they great?!?

This weekend I'm doing Work Crew for the English-speaking camp at Pico Escondido. I'm excited to help at the camp where I first fell in love with this country. Steph has done most of the planning for the weekend, and has put in so many hours loving the kids at SCS that there are about 50 kids signed up to go. We have a small group of 9th graders coming from Doulos, too...so great! Please pray for the weekend; that it goes smoothly and that kids will see Jesus in every aspect of it: in the beauty of the mountains, in the speaker, the program, the special music, their leaders, the work crew :), and in themselves.

Thank you all for your support and for reading this blog de vez en cuando :)...my time the past 4 months has been unbelievable. I'm learning so much, I'm being challenged every day, I'm loving people, I'm struggling, I'm falling, and like Justin and Caleb talked about in their blogs, I'm riding these ocean waves...I'm moving, I'm changing, I'm growing, I'm crashing into this thing we are given called life, it's a beautiful collision :).

Semana ambiental

Thank goodness for relaxing weekends at the beach so crazy weeks don't seem SO crazy. The past week was Outdoor Education Week, so the 1st-3rd grades got to go on a field trip and build a garden at school, among other activities. It was a good break from the norm, and my kids really enjoyed it. Here's a picture of us on the way to Rancho Baiguate, of Jorge with a worm after learning about fertilizer, and of some of the kids working hard tilling the ground for the garden. The experiential part of our school was key to the week; the kids were exhausted and dirty after each day which is always a good sign of hands-on learning :).

Otra vez

Here's a random picture I took on my back porch last week...some of you will know my thing with green, and seeing the green lizard, green grass and green leaves was a refreshing moment. I'm glad I had my camera :). For those of you in MI, take special notice to the flowers and sunshine...we're still sunny and in the 90s most days here in the middle of November, I love it!


It's been so nice that Shelly, Amanda and I got to take a long weekend at the beach last weekend. It was el Dia de la Constitucion here so many people took the holiday in Cabarete like we did. We rented a car and drove to the north coast ready to soak in the sun, eat good food (a nice break from chicken, rice and beans), get to know each other more and just relax. Our friends Russ and Wilson also surprised us on Saturday after riding Russ' motorcycle all the way there :)! It was an awesome weekend and I can't wait to go back (hopefully the wind will be good one of these times to windsurf more, too). Here's Russ and Shelly, and Amanda and I :).

Cantando

My 16 chinches :)